Well, the very, very sad news, girls, is that the lovely David Tennant is leaving Dr Who for pastures new. How will we bear the loss? However, he will still be filming four specials for 2009 so we haven’t quite seen the last of him yet.

When Tennant, who is currently appearing to consistently rave reviews as Hamlet, announced he was leaving, we began to wonder who could possibly fill his white canvas shoes (once the sobbing had died down of course). The speculation was intense and it became one of TV’s best-kept secrets. Names such as John Simm, Patterson Joseph and even Billie Piper were bandied about. There was actually a teaser in the Christmas Day episode called The Next Doctor where David Morrissey seemed to claim the mantle - but the BBC and writer Russell T Davies were just playing with us.

No, the person who will play the 11th Dr Who was announced on Saturday January 3 and it will be – Matt Smith. Who’s that? the nation chorused in one. Well, it appears young Matt (he’s only 26, the youngest-ever Dr Who) was born in Northampton and originally wanted to be a professional football (soccer) player. However a back injury persuaded him turn to acting. He appeared in a political drama called Party Animals, then in Philip Pullman’s The Ruby In the Smoke alongside Billie Piper and appeared on stage in Alan Bennett’s prize-winning play The History Boys at the National Theatre.

We shall have to wait until 2010 to see Matt on our screens as the new Doctor but how has he taken the news? He said: ‘Doctor Who has the iconic status of Robin Hood or Sherlock Holmes, and I’m taking that on. That’s my responsibility and it’s exciting. Nerve-racking, but exciting.’

The new Doctor will be working with Steven Moffat who is taking over the reins from Russell T Davies. Moffat is a fantastic writer (Who fans will remember he wrote the iconic episode Blink) and Matt Smith was ultimately his choice.

There have been a few unfavourable comments in the Press, from suggesting Matt Smith is not fanciable and has the look of an alien (but then he will be playing one…) to the fact that he is too young to play the 900-year-old Time Lord.

Ah well, we’ll just have to wait until 2010 to see how the young Master Smith fares!